Editing Miniature (illuminated manuscript) (section)

===Armenian miniatures===
[[File:Ancient armenian manuscript.jpg|thumb|200px|Ejmiadzin Gospel, 6th-7th centuries]]
[[File:Annunciation from 13th century Armenian Gospel.jpg|thumb|200px|Miniature of 13th century]]
[[File:Matenadaran, MS 6792.jpg|thumb|200px|Miniature by Momik]]
[[File:Malnazar - Canon Table Page - Google Art Project (6845337).jpg|thumb|200px|An Armenian manuscript by Malnazar from Gospel of 1637 - 1638]]
[[Armenian illuminated manuscripts|Armenian miniature painting]] stands out with its variety of styles and schools. When in 405 [[Mesrop Mashtots]] created the [[Armenian alphabet|Armenian letters]], Armenian manuscripts appeared, and Armenian miniature painting developed together with it. Most of the 25,000 Armenian manuscripts from different centuries are decorated with miniatures.<ref>Emma Korkhmazian, Gravard Akopian, Irina Drampian, ''The Armenian Miniature — Collection of the Matenadaran (Yerevan)'', Art Edition Aurora, Léningrad, 1984.</ref>

Books with religious content were mostly decorated, however, the miniature artists, or "flourishers", as they were called at the time, were able to express their emotions and feelings and to reflect real life scenes through religious themes. Especially in capital letters at the beginning of the text, in the ornaments placed before the title or in the pictures made in the margins, in the beautifully decorated letters, they introduced various images and elements of flora and fauna.<ref name="Mut 82">[[Claude Mutafian]] (dir.), ''Arménie, la magie de l'écrit'', Somogy, Paris, 2007 {{ISBN|978-2-7572-0057-5}}.</ref>

In Armenian miniatures one can find scenes depicting hunting, animal fighting, theatrical performances, other scenes of urban and rural life, portraits of famous figures of the time, commissioners of [[manuscript]]s.<ref>Claude Mutafian (dir.), Arménie, la magie de l'écrit, Somogy, Paris, 2007 (ISBN 978-2-7572-0057-5).</ref> Such miniatures are of great importance for the study of the life and lifestyle of medieval Armenia, costumes, manners, crafts, Armenian nature. Some miniature painters also left their [[self-portrait]]s.
[[File:Gospel, Isfahan, 1610.jpg|thumb|left|Saint Mathew by Hakob of Julfa, Gospel of [[1610]] (Matenadaran, Ms. 7639).]]
Many miniature painting centers operated in Armenia at different times. There are well-known centers, such as those of [[Ani]], [[Gladzor]], [[Tatev]], [[Nakhchivan (city)|Nakhichevan]], [[Artsakh (historic province)|Artsakh]], [[Vaspurakan]], each of which, in addition to the general features typical of national art, is characterized by a unique style of miniature painting and local traditions. Later miniature painting centers were established in Armenian colonies as well.<ref>Jannic Durand, Ioanna Rapti et Dorota Giovannoni, ''Armenia sacra — Mémoire chrétienne des Arméniens of IV-XVIII c.'', Somogy / Musée du Louvre, Paris, 2007 {{ISBN|978-2-7572-0066-7}}.</ref>

Armenian miniature art flourished in the 13th century, especially in [[Cilician Armenia]], where the miniatures were more luxurious and elegant. Works of such talented miniature artists of different times and centers as [[Toros Roslin]], Grigor, Ignatius, Sargis Pitsak, Toros Taronetsi, Avag, Momik, Simeon Archishetsi, Vardan Artsketsi, Kirakos, Hovhannes, Hakob Jughayetsi and may more have weathered the march of times up to now.<ref name="BNF 55">Annie Vernay-Nouri, ''Livres d'Arménie — Collections de la [[Bibliothèque nationale de France]]'', Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, 2007 {{ISBN|978-2-7177-2375-5}}, p.55.</ref> Yet names of many other miniature artists have not been preserved.

Armenian miniature painting has gone through long and difficult historical paths; it is a witness of Armenian's unparalleled creative zeal, which neither the countless disasters brought by foreign invaders, nor the difficult and torturous migration routes were able to extinguish. With its originality, mastery of performance, extraordinary color, richness and variety of jewelry, it occupies a unique and honorable place not only in the treasury of national art, but also in the world art.

The [[Gospel]]s were the most illustrated, followed by the Bible and other religious collections. The first miniatures that have reached us are samples of the 6th-7th centuries. The types of characters and painting in them are reminiscent of the frescoes of Lmbat and Aruch from the 7th century. The [[The Gospels of Queen Mlké|"Gospel of Queen Mlke"]], "The Gospel of Kars", "The Gospel of Trabzon" have survived from the period of the kingdoms of Bagratuni and Artsruni.<ref name="Dédéyan 289">[[Gérard Dédéyan]], ''Histoire du peuple arménien'', Toulouse: Privat, 2007, p. 289 {{ISBN|9782708968745}}</ref> These manuscripts contain the main features of the further development of Armenian miniature painting:
• columnar tabernacles,
• gold leaflets with capital letters,
• Lord's pictures, that is the events of Christ's life, which are mentioned in the church holidays,
• miniatures attached to the text.
An organic combination of Byzantine and all-Christian art can be found in them, in the depictions of arches of the tabernacles of the "Gospel of Queen Mlke", Egyptian motifs, architectural decor of evangelical paintings, and elements of Hellenistic art.

Larger miniatures of the Gospels of Lesser Armenia related to Early Christian miniature art in 1038 (Matenadaran after Mesrop Mashtots, Yerevan, manuscript N 6201), preserving old stylistic and pictorial rules, contain novelties that formed the basis of all subsequent Armenian iconography, for example, the depiction of the naked Christ on the cross. The graphic development of the style of the group of manuscripts is obvious in [[Vaspurakan]] School of Miniature Painting.
A group of manuscripts from the late 11th century, led by the Gospel of Moghni, formed the school of [[Ani]] the stylistic forms of which bear similarities with the pre-Gothic miniatures, which show the eastern origins of the latter. The miniatures of that group stand out in the monumental-fresco style. In the manuscripts of the 12th century, the traditions of miniature art of the 10th-11th centuries were developed, endowed with tragic-emotional accents, and a great importance was paid to plant-animal motifs.
In the first half of the 13th century, before the Mongol invasions, miniature painting flourished in Greater Armenia ("Gospel of Haghpat", "Gospel of Translators"). Miniature painting received an unprecedented new quality in Cilician Armenia. Exquisite manuscripts were collected both in the monasteries and in the royal court, and in addition to the clergy, manuscripts were ordered by members of the royal court and the councilors.<ref>Robert Bedrosian, ''The Turco-Mongol Invasions and the Lords of Armenia in the 13-14th Centuries'', 1979, p.156. http://rbedrosian.com/dissert.html|texte=Ph.D. Dissertation, Columbia University,2008.</ref>

The ritual-church significance of the manuscripts diminished, they were often ordered for personal use, to satisfy the refined taste of the councilors ad their religious feelings. The size of the books decreased, the miniature painters turned more to the depiction of reality and of the neighboring countries (Byzantium և European countries). Famous miniature painters Grigor Mlichetsi, Toros Roslin, Sargis Pitsak and others appeared creating elegant royal manuscripts ("King Hetum II's dinner", "Gospel of Queen Keran").<ref>Levon Azarian ''et al.'', ''Հայ մշակոիյթի նշանավոր գործիչները, V - XVIII դարեր'' (''Emient Figures in Armenian Culture of V-XVIII centuries''), Yerevan State University Publishing, Yerevan, 1976, p.322.</ref>
A relatively stable political situation in some regions of Greater Armenia contributed to the development of miniature painting. While the representatives of the Gladzor School of Miniature Painting stand out with stressed personalities, the artists of Vaspurakan (Simeon Artchishetsi, Zakaria Akhtamartsi, Rstakes, Kirakos Aghbaketsi and others) moved back to more unified painting traditions. The famous center of miniature painting was the [[Tatev]] School of Miniature Painting headed by Grigor Tatevatsi, after whom Armenian miniature art was continued in the colonies of the Crimea, New Julfa, Constantinople and elsewhere. In the 17th-18th centuries, Armenian book miniature painting gradually gave way to the printing art of book illustration.<ref>Agop J. Hacikyan, ''The Heritage of Armenian Literature'', vol. II : ''From the Sixth to the Eighteenth Century'', Wayne State University Press, Détroit, 2005 {{ISBN|0-8143-3221-8}}, p.186.</ref>